Emmit Sidney Birr

Arrived a few days early! Emmit surprised us on 12/31/09 at 1:24 pm. Here's the measurements:

8 lb 13 oz; 21 inches. I'll have Caryn add details later. I just wanted to get some pics posted and let everyone know that the family is doing very well.

Our 1st Christmas!

Today was a fun day as well! The festivities kept us going once again. We started the morning by sleeping in until 7 (thanks Gerrit!). We opened stockings (bottom right) and then took a break and had breakfast.

I wanted to use my pancake molds which were Christmas shaped and the eggnog flavored pancake mix. Gerrit didn't want to wait so he had a poptart. My attempt at the molds, didn't really work, a broken snowman, 1/2 of a snowflake, and crumbled elf was not quite the Martha Stewart Christmas breakfast I had envisioned. Adam took over and made round pancakes instead. (I'll have to work on perfecting the molds!) We had a yummy breakfast, even if Gerrit didn't each much pancake. He did let us eat and didn't rush us to open gifts.

Following breakfast, we went back to opening the presents that we have for each other and that Santa had left too. Even Grandpa Bob and Grandma Marcy/GG sent a few gifts for Gerrit to open. So of course, Gerrit had a nice ratio of 2:1 to open compared to us but that was fine. He loved opening gifts and wanted to open ours as well. Only having 3 of us to open gifts went by a bit faster than we are use to (it takes all night w/ my large family). It was a nice time for us to relax and see what it is like to open gifts just us (we've never had that before). Only a few gifts need to be returned too which is a nice thing!

Gerrit and Adam headed out to shovel the wet heavy snow/slush that fell over night. We felt like we were in MI today with the rain,sleet,snow mix we had all day. We were a bit disappointed we didn't get the snow like predicted, it was just too warm. If we had, we'd still be shoveling!

Nap time for Gerrit, Adam took a snowshoe walk on the golf course to blaze a trail for skiing, and I hunted down Whipping Cream at the gas station. I had a dessert all planned and then changed my mind after the grocery store closed yesterday. So I checked the gas station and low and behold, they had whipping cream! So Creme' Brulee' it was for dessert tonight! :)

Following nap time we set off to Dahlen's again for a late lunch. A wonderful roast dinner was had by all. We took a break from eating and Adam became brave and joined in on the Rock Band bandwagon. He took his turn at the guitar and drums and even did some solo singing! (I of course, knew better and saved my ego by watching). When we needed a break it was dessert time. I made reg. and Egg Nog Creme' Brulee' and they both turned out well. The boys even liked it and they had never had it before. Gerrit saved me the best part - the crusty sugar!

Here are a few photos from today's festivities:

Starting with the top row: the witching hour, Gerrit letting us know it was time to go home - he wanted the mic but Adam was singing, Gerrit holding the mic thinking he was singing, Gerrit sporting his new football jersey (his MSU one is a bit small), opening his 1st gift - farm equipment from dad.

Bottom row: 'playing' the drums with Paul, Adam relaxing as he sings, Gerrit noticing all the presents that were not there last night when he went to bed, Gerit discovering the stockings left by Santa. He liked the Cars slippers but didn't want to wear them - guess they will be going back to the store!

And there you have it, our 1st Christmas in MN as a family. We have made it a few more days with the little babe still inside which was nice of him. I'm definitely not very comfortable, but knowing we don't have much going on is helpful. I head back to the dr. on Wed and we'll discuss inducing dates if it comes to that (I don't think it will). The dr. doesn't think this babe will be as big as Gerrit - I'm not holding my breath!

Because we have such great friends here, it made being in MN for Christmas that much easier. We love our families, and missed them a lot these last few days, but we are very thankful we have a 'family' that we can spend time with as well. We have a lot to be thankful for and were reminded of it all these past few days.

We hope you had a great Christmas too!

Merry Kissmas!!

(as Gerrit would say)

Christmas Eve

Adam spend most of the morning snow blowing and shoveling. He decided to 'work from home' today. After some help by Gerrit, he went to Julie's so Adam could work and I could do last minute things before the festivities began. We ended up meeting friends for breakfast at Bridgett's, getting new cell phones, and Adam went skiing. (So much for getting any 'work done' today!) I put together the few things we needed to bring to our party and got in a quick little nap.

We were almost late for church and sat in the front row! Surprisingly, Gerrit did very well. It was a nice service and we sang a lot of the good 'ol Christmas hymns. After church we headed to Dahlen's for a gathering of friends. I realized I didn't take many pictures to capture the evening, but basically it was a few of the Team Beat families eating - what we do best (besides the guys biking!)

Top left: Logan home from college, Nathan holding Anders, and Dave - in front of the great spread of food we grazed on all evening. A few gifts were exchanged between the kids. Gerrit got 2 Lightening McQueen's (from the movie Cars) and was in heaven! He also got his first baby from Langley's (his godparents). He knew how to hold it (middle, bottom), feed it (top right) and Pam helped him change his clothes (bottom left). It was very sweet to see how much he knew about holding and feeding a baby. He preferred to feed it the juice instead of the milk! The bottom right is Gerrit drinking from a wine glass (full of sparkling juice!). I thought it was very risky to give him a real glass, but he used 2 hands and did well.

The Dahlen boys got Rock Band so the evening ended with listening to bad singing, poor guitar playing, and off-beat drumming. It was a late night but a lot of fun.

If we couldn't be with our 'real' family, this was the next best thing!

SNOW update: Most of the day the temps were around freezing so we didn't get near the snow they predicted. Not going to be fun to deal with the ice when it does get cold enough!

PS - Adam and I tried Leftse for the 1st time tonight. (A Minn./Scandinavian thing for you Michiganders who don't know what it is). We had it the "german way" (with sugar) and the "norwegian way" (with butter). It wasn't bad; nothing we'd go and snack on, but if it were served, we'd eat it!

It's Almost Here...

Gerrit made this Santa countdown in daycare on Dec. 1. He has faithfully added a cotton ball to Santa's beard each day. Between Santa's beard and 'opening a door' to the Advent calendar, he was pretty busy each day. Rarely did he forget to do either one!

On one of the recent Sat. am donut runs, Gerrit lucked out and got a cookie as well. He finished his donut and wanted his cookie. Why wait? He was going to eat it at some point, so we got it over with...

Above left: how to eat a cookie

Above right: what the cookie looks like when you are all done

The face of a cookie, or should I say, frosting eater...

(He had a shower following this episode)

Shovel, Shovel, Shovel

The title pretty much sums up the next few days around here. We got about 3" the other morning. The community snowblower was slightly out of commission so Adam used the smaller blower (how nice to be able to choose which one to use?). Gerrit was very upset he missed the opportunity to help - he was too busy watching a kid show and eating oatmeal. I promised him he could shovel when he came home from Julie's. Little did he know, there would be a lot of opportunities for him to shovel this weekend. There is probably 6" of fresh snow on the ground with another 4 coming today and another 5-9 tonight. The only problem with Gerrit shoveling is that he takes the snow from the banks and puts it on the driveway or sidewalk - a bit backwards!

Adam bought a bigger sled yesterday so they will be able to go sledding in the next few days too. I think I'll lay low and try and keep this babe inside as long as possible! We don't want to have to push the Subi's limit getting to the cities in this storm! Ideally, I would like to wait till next Thurs as my Dr. will be on call for a few days over the New Year weekend. (Adam would really like next Thurs for the tax break.) I had a dr. apt yesterday and continue to progress - a bit faster than I'd like due to this storm. Luckily we don't have a lot going on so I can relax.

Stay tuned to hear about our Christmas festivities...

Need for Concern?

Gerrit can name mascots and spot them a mile away. He often finds them well before Adam and I can find them! He knows the Vikings are football, Gophers, Michigan State is "go state", etc...

Today we were reading a book on colors and I asked him which lollipop was the red one - he pointed to all the other colors and finally ended with the red one because that was the last one. He may know his sports but we need to work on his colors!

[As much as Adam is hoping for an athletic scholarship and saving money on college, I think we may need to use that money for a tutor so Gerrit will make it to college! :) ]

Reversing Roles

While watching MSU basketball today, Gerrit loves to play on his own hoop. I think he looks at what the guys are doing on TV and then tries to do it himself (he tries to hang on the rim, but gets in trouble when caught - Fisher Price just isn't as strong as a breakaway hoop!). He offered me a chance to shoot today as well which I thought was kind of him. I took a few shots from a seated position on the couch and missed them all. Soon Gerrit took it upon himself to show ME how to make a basket (granted, he was 2 feet from the hoop!). How thoughtful of him to teach his mommy how to shoot a basketball.

Moments before I received my coaching lesson I had to take his band aid off his thumb. It was getting in the way of his shooting!